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to understand or assimilate every item of information provided in order to achieve a high score in this part of the test.

  viii) Boring Recorded Material:

  It is quite conceivable that students may find much of the subject matter in the Listening Exam very dull and irrelevant to their own daily life. The different communicative scenarios presented will not always naturally engage the attention of every candidate. They may re-enact situations that you may not enjoy experiencing yourself like group collaboration on an academic research assignment.

  The listening test is not designed or intended to entertain but to inform. It is critical to approach this exam from that perspective. You have to try to understand what you need to know from the information that you hear in order to answer the questions that have been asked. You are not taking the exam for your own enjoyment but for your academic and/or professional needs.

  ix) Lack of Exposure to Native Conversation:

  Many candidates do not have the opportunity to listen to real-life native speakers because they may only live, work or study with people from their own country and habitually communicate in their native language(s). Some students only really experience English in their school and are not accustomed to accessing this language outside their classes. They may prefer to receive information via their native language through available media channels e.g. BBC News in Other Languages.

  This first language isolation is socially, academically, linguistically and culturally dangerous for foreign nationals living, working and studying in the UK et al. It is particularly problematic for IELTS exam candidates because they may not develop their experience of absorbing external information through the language they need to master in order to study their subject or practice their profession. It is essential to interact with native speakers as much as possible through social as well as professional communicative activities in order to become more naturally familiar with native speaker language usage in the real world.

  x) Difficult Academic Vocabulary:

  It is very likely that students will encounter many complex words, phrases or expressions during the listening test that they may not have previously heard of. It is also perfectly possible that there may be obscure polysyllabic words you hear that need to be understood in order to be able to answer the questions. It may also be necessary to paraphrase the original language of the recording to answer the question as it is written on the question paper.

  Students do need to expand their lexical knowledge of academic expressions via audio in order to be more confident of achieving success in the listening exam. This can be acquired through watching YouTube videos e.g. TEDTalks or accessing downloaded podcasts or attending public lectures which can be free in some academic institutions. 

  Listening Test Strategies

  What should you do before the exam to prepare yourself and develop your skills in advance?

  i. Watch movies in English with subtitles.

  It is vital to watch films to expand your experience of English language speech in audio-visual format. If you go to the cinema, it can be possible to watch films with subtitles if you attend pre-arranged screenings for the deaf/hard of hearing. You can also watch films via DVD or downloaded to a laptop. It is more advisable to watch DVD’s because the subtitles would be accurate. You should watch the film in English not in your own language to develop your memory for English.

  Examples of medical films would be One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (set in a mental asylum), And The Band Played On (the initial history of the AIDS virus), Lorenzo’s Oil (a true story about a couple who defied professional medical opinion to find a cure for their baby son), The Fugitive (about a doctor who is framed for murder by his pharmaceutical company), Patch Adams (about an unconventional doctor who healed his patients through making them laugh) and most recently Inferno (based on Dan Brown’s thriller about the race to avert a second Black Death).

  ii. Watch TV programmes and TV series

  Watching TV regularly with subtitles is one of the best ways of improving your audio-visual comprehension of English which can enable you to pick up the rhythm, idiom and manner of popular native usage. There are many drama series, soap operas and documentaries about hospitals and healthcare from both Britain and America which can be accessed via YouTube or purchased as boxsets nowadays.

  British medical TV drama programmes include Casualty, Holby City and Doctors which are all shown regularly every week. American TV series include ER, House, Nip & Tuck and Grey’s Anatomy which are shown all over the world and can be easily accessed on the Web.

  iii. Listen to the Radio

  Although this is not such a popular or fashionable pastime, listening to the radio is probably the most appropriate preparation for the listening exam because this medium most closely replicates the circumstances of the test, transmitting live and recorded audio programmes without images.

  Programmes broadcast on BBC Radio Four most closely resembles the formal academic language employed in the test, especially the Today Programme in the mornings and PM in the afternoon. LBC Radio is also an appropriate alternative and is a little more accessible to listeners new to British current affairs.

  iv. Listen to Podcasts/Watch YouTube Videos

  Podcasts are an increasingly popular audio channel and are now a new alternative medium for newspapers and magazines to showcase articles in audio-lingual format. The Guardian and The Economist regularly provide podcast versions of many articles and/or commentaries. The most suitable lecture format provided by YouTube is TEDTalks, a public education access channel which provides many examples of academic lectures presented on video with professionally pre-recorded subtitles (which are linguistically accurate) similar in tone and scope to IELTS Listening Part 4.

  v. Participate in Voluntary Activities

  If you have any spare time, you can improve your understanding of real-life native English usage by participating in voluntary activities outside your work or studies like playing in a sports team or assisting your local community. There is a great demand for “befrienders” who can help out lonely older or handicapped people who need social as much as physical support. Helping charities like The Red Cross or Marie Curie Cancer Care could be valuable in terms of improving your English communication skills as well as expanding your social experience which would be very relevant to your future medical career.

  vi. Attend public lectures

  There are many academic and artistic institutions which offer lectures and talks to the general public that are very similar to the kind of presentations you hear in the IELTS listening exam. These include King’s College London (especially on medical matters), the London School of Economics (focusing on global political and social issues) and the British Museum (discussing arts, history and culture). Lectures from LSE can be also be read and heard via the university website. 

  Listening Test Reminders

  What do you have to remember before taking the Listening Test?

  i.The listening test is the first part of the whole IELTS exam process.

  ii.You should write your answers in pencil and use a rubber to erase any errors.

  iii.You can write your initial answers on the question paper before transferring them to the answer sheet after the audio recording has finished.

  iv.Your answers may be written in upper or lower case but not both.

  v.If you write more words and/or numbers than required by the question your answer will be marked incorrect.

  vi.When filling in gaps you should only transfer the necessary missing words onto the answer sheet. If you add other words which are not required to complete the missing information then your answer will be marked incorrect.

  vii.All answers must be spelt correctly but both US or UK English spelling alternatives are acceptable.

  viii.Numbers can be written as either words or figures.

  ix.Do not use shorthand like info or bks in your final answers. You can use abbreviations like Mt Everest or Oxford S
t.

  x.For questions where the answers are letters: A, B, C or Roman numerals: i) , ii) , iii) you should only write the number of answers required. If you have written more than the number of letters or numerals required, the answer will be marked wrong.

  xi.Your handwriting should be clear and legible when you transcribe your answers to the answer sheet.

  xii.The listening test answers are marked electronically using a scanner. They are no longer marked by a human being.

  Listening Test Tactics

  What should you try to do in order to succeed in the listening exam?

  i.Use the time before the recording starts to look at the questions and read through the notes. Always read the questions before you start. This will give you an idea of what the recording is about and what to listen out for.

  ii.l Look at each gap and think about what kind of word should fill it e.g. numbers, a date, a noun, a verb etc.

  iii.Follow the introduction carefully when the recording starts, the narrator will tell you what each section is about.

  iv.Focus on each question in turn as you listen to the recording. Keep up with the recording as it moves from one question to the next; avoid thinking about any answers you have missed, just concentrate on the next one that comes up.

  v.Always check the word limit in the instructions beforehand so you are sure how many words and/or numbers are required.

  vi.Do not